The Bliss of Oblivion
by SilverEchoes
Summary: Kira is the ultimate coordinator, a creation of perfection by man. Too powerful a tool to ignore, and far more fascinating to own. What Dullindal tries to covet is what Athrun will sacrifice to protect.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I don't own or profit off of Gundam Seed.**

Hot.

The lean youth shivered, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Hey, Kid-"

Mu La Flaga abruptly bit off the cheerful greeting as he looked at the tired face of the young coordinator. The usually brilliant amethyst eyes where unfocused, and the deceptively delicate fingers seemed to type rather awkwardly on the keyboard compared to its usual confident and swift movements whenever Kira updated his Strike Gundam.

"Kira."

"What? Oh, hello Mu." The words were soft and breathy, as if Kira couldn't get enough air into his lungs to speak properly.

His suspicions aroused, the blond officer reached out a hand and placed it on the young coordinator's forehead. His concerned frown deepened as he felt the intense heat radiating from Kira's flushed skin.

"You're sick, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Kira responded, trying to focus on the stream of information on the screen. Why was the screen so blurry? Perhaps he needed to clean it…

Mu reached over and pushed the screen out the way.

"Mu!" Kira protested, a bit irked. He'd been working on that program for two torturous hours already and it was almost done. The blond pilot simply grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the cockpit. "Stop that-"

"Damn it, Kid," Mu looked stern and disapproving as they slowly floated down towards the walkway. "you're burning up with fever. The least you can do for your health is to rest a bit."

"Coordinators don't get sick." Kira said, hating himself immediately afterwards for how it sounded so arrogant coming out from his mouth.

"And I suppose you're feeling absolutely vibrant today?" The blond said dryly as he punched in the access code to the sealed door.

The coordinator flushed, his silence offering the answer.

They walked towards the medical center in comfortable silence. Kira was a bit alarmed when he realized that his legs trembled slightly in exhaustion from the short walk. The headache he'd been suffering was now a full-blown monster, making him nauseous at any quick movements.

"Sit." Mu indicated absently as he rummaged through the medical cabinets. Kira obliged, grateful for the support that the sterile white bed offered.

"I can't give you any serious pills, I'm afraid." The blond pilot said, emerging with a bottle. "But a bit of aspirin and a nice cool cloth would probably be comfortable to you right now."

"Thanks." Kira managed to say. Was it his imagination, or was the world starting to look a bit blurry?

He silently accepted a glass of water and swallowed some aspirin down, then lay down, closing his eyes as he felt a wonderfully cool damp towel placed gently on his forehead.

"Sleep well, Kid." Mu said softly, then quietly exited the room.

Kira soon fell into the deep abyss of dreams, where his dark nightmares chased after him.

**(0)(0)(0)**

'Why Kira?' The mangled corpse of an innocent young girl reached for him, fingers holding a yellow origami flower. The flower was splashed with crimson blood. 'You lied. You said you would protect us…'

"No!" The coordinator shot up in his bed, silvery tears gleaming on his long brown eyelashes. Suddenly, a force slammed into the ship and Kira groaned as he was suddenly thrown against the wall.

All nightmares momentarily put aside, Kira scrambled to his feet, biting back an urge to vomit. That had clearly been an explosion, which could only mean that the Archangel was engaged in battle. Why didn't someone wake him? He was not too sick to defend the ship and its precious crew.

Kira stumbled out of the medical center, glad that he'd forgotten to take off his flight suit, and made his way to the hanger, fighting to keep his balance from the occasional blasts that rocked the ship. His unsteady, fever-induced, legs were burning with exertion when he finally managed to slip inside the Strike Gundam. Accepting his helmet from a worker, the young coordinator sealed the hatch and powered up his Gundam. The giant mecha came to life as Kira connected to the main network.

"This is Kira Yamato. Requesting launch for Strike Gundam."

"Acknowledged, Kira Yamato. Strike Gundam. Please standby."

Kira gritted his teeth as a wave of dizziness swept through him as he launched, the G-forces battering his frail body.

He emerged into a chaotic fight, barely managing to dodge stray blasts as he scanned for SkyGrasper. It was in the middle of the chaos, smoke streaming from one engine as it desperately tried to shake off a tail. A dodge, and a quick, calculated blast of the trigger, and Strike forced the pilot away from SkyGrasper.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Kid?"

Mu La Flaga appeared on the screen, looking battered but anxious and annoyed at seeing Kira in battle.

"I can't just sit there and watch as they attack us!" Kira explained as he maneuvered to shield SkyGrasper from the furious swarm of mobile suits. "Go back, your fighter is in critical condition."

"You can't fight this many by yourself in your condition! You could barely-"

Kira cancelled the videophone connection and shoved SkyGrasper towards the direction of the Archangel as he shot into the furious barrage of enemy fire. Strike dodged, the agility of the advanced suit allowing Kira to avoid hits at the last minute. His breath came in short gasps as a fiery pain seized his chest.

Maybe Mu was right. Maybe he couldn't handle this many suits alone.

Strike engaged full power to its rear thrusters and brought out the laser sword. The deadly weapon glowed, blurring as it moved with lightning quick laser-precision. ZAFT soldiers barely had time to scream denial at their fate before their mobile suits exploded in angry fireballs, torn apart by the explosion into millions of blackened, twisted shards of metal that sliced through the cold bleak darkness of space.

Dull violet eyes stared impassively at the cold data flickering down his monitors.


	2. Captive

**Author's note: Yay! Update! Um, I really don't know the long-black haired guy's name, but he's in Gundam Seed Destiny…I got the name here from another fanfic, so I don't know if it's correct or not.**

Dark, so very dark…

_Beep……Beep……_

He struggled futilely to move his head, a wave of nausea and weakness forcing him to remain in his vulnerable and helpless position on the sterile white bed.

_Beep…Beep…_

"Relax." An elegant voice cooed, oddly sinister. Kira flinched as a gloved hand tenderly smoothed his rich brown locks of hair, his disoriented amethyst eyes trying to focus on the figure looming above him. He moaned softly as his vision blurred dangerously, threatening to send him back unconscious again.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he waited until he was sure that he wasn't going to pass out the next second, and opened them again.

He froze.

_Beep…_

A handsome man looked down at him, a pale aristocratic face framed with long silky black locks. Confident, catlike golden eyes looked down on him with a disturbing smugness and intensity, and perfect lips curled in a dangerous, predatory manner as the smooth, sensual, voice spoke again.

"You've barely recovered from your injuries during that magnificent battle with some of my best pilots, and that dangerous fever you were going through has left you quite weak. I suggest you lie still and rest at this moment."

_Beep…Beep…Beep…_

"Who are you?" Kira said, his face pale. "What happened to the Archangel?"

Dullindal smirked at the way those lovely amethyst eyes showed such emotion in them. So open. So innocent.

"You may call me Master." Oh, what a lovely shocked and pained look there was on that face. He decided he liked the look of rebellion and anger flaring in the fey boy's eyes a second later. "As for the Archangel…" Dullindal leaned forward, his elegant white fingers gently tracing the young coordinator's face. Kira flinched at that icy contact. "It unfortunately blew up when one of our new ion cannons penetrated the missile storage compartment."

No.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

"No one will realize you're still alive, my dear Kira." Dullindal's voice was almost tender as he stood up to leave the room, Kira was shivering, eyes closed as if in physical pain as a tear glimmered on his lashes, muffled half-suppressed sobs of shock and bitterness escaping his perfect, soft pink lips.

"From now on, you'll only be my pet."

With those fateful words, the aristocratic coordinator left the room to a heartbroken boy.

_Beep …………_


	3. Toying

Kira stumbled behind the tall imposing coordinator, trying to keep up with the brisk pace though he'd barely managed to recover from the debilitating illness. It had been a painful two days, with no one, not even the efficient doctors, talking to or acknowledging him, until he found himself wishing for the company of-

The young coordinator firmly stopped that train of thought.

I will not call him Master! He lifted his chin defiantly. Rebellious fire sparkled in his eyes as he stepped into the room. The automatic doors silently closed behind him.

"Sir." He said stiffly.

Dullindal gave no indication that he heard the voice behind him speak.

"Sir." Kira repeated, loudly. He suddenly gasped sharply as an unexpected wave of pain raced through his body.

"You," The golden-eyed coordinator spoke in a mild tone, "should address me by my proper name."

"What did you do to me?" The younger coordinator whispered in horror. He already knew the answer even before Dullindal answered.

"I should think you are more than aware of the ECNs? External control nanobots?"

Kira shied away instinctively from the dreaded answer. During his stay on the Archangel, he'd had access to many military secrets. One was the discussed possible use of implanting nanobots into a human, in which an external controller could basically control the host. The nanobots in the ECN host could release chemicals that could pain the host…

"Ah yes." The older coordinator seemed oddly pleased by Kira's reaction. "Such a bright young man. I see you know what those are. However, I did not call you here to simply chat with you." Dullindal flicked a switch on his chair and a wall faded, turning into a transparent wall. The violet-eyed coordinator frowned as he realized a lean, muscular man in black stood in the middle of what appeared to be a huge ring. The black clothing made the man starkly apparent against the sterile white background.

With a flick of another switch, a screen flickered on the west wall of the ring. The bruised and haunted face of Mu la Flaga stared blankly into the screen. He was still dressed in a dirty purple piloting suit.

"Mu!" Kira cried out before he could stop himself, a feeling of elation and foreboding in his heart.

"I thought you would know him." A dark gleam appeared in the long-haired coordinator's eyes. "Will you fight for his life?"


	4. Blood for Blood

**Author's note: Um, hi? Sorry, about the long wait for those of you expecting the next chapter. My dad blocked the access to this site during the school year so I could, quote "concentrate on your studies". Hello? Straight-A, honor student here? Anyway, here's a little appetizer to satisfy you while I update my other stories.**

"Ugh!" Kira stumbled back, his left reaching up to protect his wounded shoulder as his opponent calmly shifted into his fight-ready position. Pain-filled amethyst eyes met and reflected off of a chillingly controlled pair of blank blue eyes as the sound of the young coordinator's ragged breathing thundered painfully loud in his ears.

/Is this - is this SEED mode/

The image of Mu La Flaga on the screen overhead gave a silent scream of anger and sorrow before the all too pale face lowered, features hidden by bloodied blond hair. Kira winced, and forced himself to attack the obviously skilled man in front of him, his face grim with the burden of his friend's fate on his shoulders.

His leg lashed out with an lightning-quick sweep at his opponent's leg, forcing the enemy back an awkward step before he slammed his shoulder under the man's ribs.

/There/

He lunged forward, desperate fingers scrambling for the red button on the wall behind the quickly-recovering enemy. The harsh noise signaling his victory coincided with the sickening sound of a bullet impacting yielding flesh.

Turning, Kira stared in horror, eyes wide with shock as his opponent slumped gracelessly to the floor, deep crimson blood spreading out from the tiny wound on his heart. Shaking, Kira barely registered that someone was speaking over the intercom, his body shaking as he drew away from the corpse.

/Red. There's so much blood./ He whimpered, shaking his head in denial. /Why? Did I do this/

"No! I…I - Argh!" The sudden, burning pain spread through his body, feeling as if cruel claws were leisurely trying to tear through his fragile frame. He curled up against the wall, his back arching as he desperately tried to escape the pain, even though a small voice in the back of his mind quietly noted it was all useless. And then, seemingly hours later, the pain stopped, leaving him feeling blessedly numb in the process.

"I expect you to pay attention when I talk to you, my dear Kira." The smooth voice ran out on the intercom, sounding as clear as if the speaker was right next to him. "Next time, I'll expect you to respond immediately."

/It's that man. The golden-eyed monster./

"Kira?" The voice said, with a warning tone in it.

"W-Why…" The young coordinator rasped out the words, his throat hoarse from screams. "Why did he die?"

The man actually sounded amused at his question. "Why Kira, don't you know? Everything comes at a price. His life was given in exchange for your friend's life. I trust that you are not unaware of this, being a soldier yourself?"

Kira stiffened and raised his head, seeing the confident golden-eyed coordinator observing him from behind a thick glass wall. Images flashed through his mind, of the fateful fight between him and - his lips silently mouthed the name of the person so close to his heart-

"Don't compare me with people like you!" He screamed, knowing the price for his words even as he spoke. "You're a lying, heartless, monst-"

And then he drowned in the pain that followed.


	5. Hostages of God

**Author's note: Hey guys, I'm sooo sorry about the wait. Other fandoms just stole my attention for a long, long time. My apologies for the shortness, but I really need to rewatch parts of the show to figure out what I want to do and that's something I'll leave for the summer and after finals. _  
**

He didn't want to wake.

His dreams were frightening - vivid sensations of pain and a horrible weight of guilt that pressed on him until he thought his ribs would surely be crushed. But he kept running, fleeing through the darkness because there was always a pair of eyes watching him, hunting him, and he trembled in sheer horror at the thought of stopping and being devoured by the owner of those (insane) orbs. And there were times when his dream melted away and a blinding light lit the edges of fuzzy vision and for moments he hoped that he was just desperately drunk (you know that's not possible) until a faceless man covered his eyes with the biting invading sting of cold sterile steel in his arms and he would be back in his dream again, except that he would be limping and those eyes were closer yet.

And somewhere, his traitorous mind whispered this is not a dream.

(wake up kira)

And he kept running away.

* * *

The boy was stubborn. And the fact made Dullindal both amused and irritated.

Once again, he found himself ignoring the official documents on his desk - ORB was once again demanding a halt to his actions and a conference - and reaching for the holoscreen switch located conveniently under the desk and watched the live feed on a dull-eyed youth on the blank whiteness of a hospital bed. He admired the way the shaggy dark chocolate locks added stark shadows across his face and the deceiving frailty of the thin white arms that had angry red marks where thin tubes and needles pierced the flesh. The strange violet eyes were partially lidded, revealing a blank unseeing gaze that proved to Dullindal that the boy was actually trying to shelter his mind from the reality that faced him, nevermind the doctors that insisted the boy was in a coma.

The boy was far too special and masterfully designed to fall to such mortal weaknesses.

He tapped his fingers in a quick staccato pattern on the outrageously expensive mahogany desk, relishing the fine smooth coolness underneath his hands. The "ultimate" coordinator was simply too fascinating and he knew that he was quickly starting to loose control on his stance towards the young man, that simple logic was starting to corrupt under a simmering obsession. He didn't want the coordinator to bow to him for the sake of his plan of salvation for the disgustingly chaotic world - no, he wanted Kira Yamato to bend to him *personally*. The rush of power he gained from being the chairman of PLANT was nothing like the sheer breathtaking exhilaration he had drowned himself in when he had forced the man-made god to obey his orders, no matter how unwillingly.

He took in a deep, rattling breath and calmed himself until his heartbeat slowed once more to its steady, imperious rhythm again. He was the owner of a god. It would not do to let a possession affect him so.

A small beep announced an incoming call and Dullindal reluctantly closed the window on Kira as he accepted the request. "Yes?"

The thin-lipped visage of a elite ranked officer automatically saluted. "My apologies, Excellency, but the EA prisoner has tried to suicide again. Your orders, sir?"

He frowned, displeasure evident on his aristocratic face. "I said to keep him alive at all costs, soldier. Whatever petty grudge you hold against him does not warrant for you to call me knowing full well my standing orders before taking action. His life is your absolute responsibility. If he dies, it will be your neck on the line."

The red-uniformed man had only the time to gape, wide-eyed at the venomous tone from the famously composed chairman before Dullindal abruptly cut the line. It was ridiculous, but somehow the EA pilot had put together the pieces to realize that he was the hostage that was the leash and lock against someone of his crew. Of course, he didn't know who, but it was interesting to note how the man growled the name of the Archangel's captain in his sleep. He briefly wondered if the man was actually foolish enough to think that a lowly EA captain would be worthy of the effort placed into the project of such high secrecy.

It would not be good for the natural to die just yet. His life was temporarily overvalued for the situation, but he was, after all, only temporary. Dullindal smirked as he reached out and reviewed a file from his desk. Athrun Zala had always been such a *fascinating* individual (he had even once considered using the Zala as replacement when it seemed that obtaining the ultimate coordinator was unlikely) and he had been more than just delighted when ZAFT intelligence had reported that the young man had a childhood friendship and relationship with Kira.

He pressed a button to his secretary, idly wondering how the Zala would react to knowing his friend was alive. It would hurt loosing such a talented pilot, but maybe he could arrange some conditions to ensure the pair's loyalty.

"Lisa, what is my schedule for Friday?"

"A luncheon with senator Maerk to discuss funding for the sciences sir, followed by a tour of the new PLANT RE-Genesis Envirosphere project, sir."

"Perfect. Inform Athrun Zala that I wish to meet him at 8 in the morning. I have a short discussion with him that shouldn't take too long."

"Understood sir."

* * *


End file.
